


Highvale

by TSCA



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Gen, Intrigue, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-26
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-20 07:30:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19988422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TSCA/pseuds/TSCA
Summary: Dedicated rebels are the heart of any successful rebellion, but winning a war requires more than willing fighters. Victory requires both resources and weapons, something the Rebellion never had much of to being with. After Entrapta defected, their hopes for competing with the Horde dimmed even further and the search for allies became more desperate, leading them far from Bright Moon to stranger and more perilous lands.





	1. Chapter 1

Adora stood atop the castle's highest ramparts looking down on the courtyard below as the Rebellion rounded up the last few Horde prisoners. Scorpia had made an escape down the river with Adora's old cadet team, which left only one person unaccounted for.

Catra.

Scorpia said she was absent, and as far as anyone could tell, it was the truth. Catra would have never missed a chance to fight Adora. For better or for worse, the two of them were drawn to one another.

So where was she now?

"Uh, you ok there?" 

Adora turned around to see Mermista walking up to her. "Hm?"

Mermista shrugged. "You've been, like, looking at everything for an hour now."

"Oh, that. I was just… thinking."

"About your friend?"

"What? No, she's not my… well… maybe she is… look, it's complicated, alright?" Adora stuttered. 

"Yeah, ok." Mermista came up to the edge of the rampart and leaned against it. "So you're thinking about her?"

"Just wondering where she is."

"It's a big Horde, and there's a lot of places she could be. Not much use in wasting time on it."

Adora sighed. "I suppose you're right. I should get back to fighting for the Rebellion."

"So what's next?"

"Maybe recruit more princesses? You got any suggestions?"

"Well…" There was a heavy pause. "Not exactly, but I heard an interesting story from Seahawk before I got here. You know about Isla Fulgeo?"

Adora nodded. "Yeah, there's a port city there the Horde seized years ago. Hordak stationed a lot of his older, more experienced troops there to keep a hold on it. Something about trade routes and resources."

"Right. It used to be a powerful kingdom before the Horde invaded. They even had their own runestone, the Sailor's Flame. We don't hear much about it these days since the Horde has the island locked down, but Seahawk says that he caught sight of a Force Captain's ship being ambushed off the coast. He says it looked like some sort of underwater craft was firing missiles at it."

"Well that's new. You think there's some sort of resistance on the island still?"

"Could be. The Horde never seems to have gotten the runestone or the royal family. If they did, we'd have heard about it."

"It's not a bad idea. Some lightning might just be the spark we need."

Mermista rolled her eyes. "That's enough puns for me today. See you back in Bright Moon, Adora."

* * *

The morning sun sharply illuminated Swift Wind as he soared over a blanket of clouds. His outstretched wings caught updrafts from the warm ocean air and carried him far despite the three riders on his back.

"Alright ladies and gentleman, if my keen intuition is correct, we should be descending on Isla Fulgeo now. Keep your arms and legs tucked in and remain in an upright position."

Adora, Bow, and Glimmer clung onto each other tightly as they veered downwards, out of the sun and into the cold, wet clouds until the air cleared beneath them and an island loomed under them.

To call it an island was an understatement: Isla Fulgeo was a sprawling landmass jutting out of the ocean, with hundreds of miles of coastline and jungle covering most of the island. The western portion beneath them was overshadowed by a looming volcano, whose lava flows had run over the cliffs long ago and formed a sweeping incline of igneous rock where they met the water.

Built into the rock was the port city of Pyreclast, former capital of the island and current headquarters of the occupation. Dozens of Horde ships filled the harbor, keeping a watchful eye on the fishermen and traders of the island.

They had barely any time to take the sight in before the ships sprang to life, training their cannons on Swift Wind. A laser beam pierced the air in front of him, diffracting off of the damp ocean air and singing his feathers. He screamed in terror and folded his wings, which sent them hurtling down towards the tree line beneath them like rock as laser fire filled the sky.

"Pull up, pull up!" Adora shouted, tugging at his mane. "We're going to crash!"

Swift Wind extended his wing to break the fall as a laser beam cut through the appendage, causing him to spiral out of control. There was a burst of pink energy as Glimmer teleported them down to the jungle floor. They materialized in a tangle of branches and were thrown to the ground in a tangle of limbs and bodies.

"My wing," he groaned, stretching out the appendage. "They burned half my feathers off!"

Adora rolled over onto her stomach and dragged herself over to him. "Are you ok? Is there any permanent damage?"

Swift Wind took a deep breath and exhaled as he flexed his wing. "I'll be ok, but I won't be flying for a while. Where'd everyone else go?"

"We're over here," Glimmer groaned from behind a bush. 

It parted to reveal Bow carrying Glimmer on his back. The two of them were scuffed and bruised, but seemed otherwise intact. Bow set Glimmer down next to Swift Wind before leaning against a nearby tree and nocking an arrow.

"Where… where are we?" 

"I'm not sure," Adora said. "Can you use your tracker pad?"

"No, it got busted when we crashed." Bow looked up at what little sky filtered through the foliage. "We should find the coast and figure things out from there."

"Makes sense. We can go around the edge until we find Pyreclast again." Adora unsheathed her sword and swung it through the foliage. "Alright, I think we need to head this way. I'll take point."

* * *

The hulking reptilian form of Force Commander Ashur sat in the Pyreclast Keep's throne room with a double-spear on his lap as the latest situation report came over the radio. His ships in the harbor had spotted and downed a brilliantly colored winged stallion. Such a creature could only belong to She-Ra, the new rallying point for resistance on Etheria. Hordak had warned of her and the princess alliance she was trying to build.

Ashur would see it crushed on this island. He cast his eyes down at the tactical map in front of him and debated how many troops he could spare to hunt down a hero in the jungle. A task force of five strike teams — sixty soldiers in all — would have to suffice. Any more would compromise their mobility, and time was of the essence. .

* * *

The sweltering jungle air was starting to sap Adora's strength as she swung her sword for the umpteenth time to clear a path through the undergrowth. They had been walking for an hour and were still no closer to the shore, though part of the reason was how difficult the jungle was to traverse. Between the uneven ground, roots, vegetation, and heat, she would be surprised if they had made it more than a few miles.

"Can we stop for a moment?" Swift Wind panted from behind her. "This place is killing me! Glimmer, why can't you teleport us out of here?"

Glimmer rolled her eyes. "All four of us? It was hard enough getting the four of us down here from the canopy."

"And you need to conserve your magic," Bow added. "We're a thousand miles from Bright Moon and won't be going back anytime soon."

"Right, that too — ow!" Glimmer abruptly ran into Adora's back. "What's going on?"

Adora dropped into a crouch and held her sword up cautiously. "I thought I heard something. Didn't you?"

The group immediately formed a defensive circle and scanned the area. Several long minutes passed, broken only by the sound of wildlife.

"I don't sense anything," Swift Wind finally said. "Maybe you're just on edge?"

Bow raised his hand and clenched it into a fist before returning it to his bow. He slowly drew his arrow back before firing it into a dense cluster of branches. A dark green reptilian figure shot out of the tree as the arrow pierced the branches, landing on the ground in front of them.

"For the honor of Greyskull!" Adora shouted, raising her sword above her as the power of She-Ra flowed through her body.

In response, the reptilian raised a metal tube at her. There was a muffled 'thud' as a dozen ball bearings shot out of the tube and slammed into Adora's stomach, knocking the wind out of her lungs. Adora sank to her knees, but Glimmer promptly appeared behind the reptile and unleashed a fistfull of magic into his face. It didn't phase him as he swung around to face Glimmer, but it bought Adora enough time to ram her shoulder into him.

The momentum carried them forwards and into a tree, which shook from the force of impact. He drew a knife and pressed it into her side as she held her sword against his throat — and then she suddenly realized she was looking at a helmet. It was shaped like a lizard head, covering his entire face and attached to a suit of scaled armor, but the wearer was very much human.

"Hold on — truce, truce!" Adora loosened her grip on her sword. "You're not a Horde soldier, are you?"

"You aren't either?" he asked tensely. "Then what are you doing this far into the jungle?"

""I'm Adora. And, uh, also She-Ra sometimes. I came here with Princess Glimmer of Brigntmoon, our friend Bow, and my steed Swift Wind seeking allies against the Horde."

He nodded. "It's about time someone came. We've been holding out on the eastern half of the island for years."

"Glad to hear it." Adora took a moment to come down from her adrenaline high and study the man. "Are you a soldier?"

He nodded. "Lieutenant Cadius Quintus, Royal Dragoon Regiment."

"Royal Dragoon? Does that mean the royal family's still alive?"

"Only Princess Electra," he replied. "The King died in the invasion, and the Queen was assassinated by the Horde last year."

Adora bowed her head. "My condolences."

"Thank you. I'm sure that seeing you all will lift her spirits. Follow me, we'll meet up with my squadron three miles east of here. Let's move quickly: if I was able to find you, the Horde can too. Those hovering skiffs can get through the jungle a lot faster than us."

"Uh, guys?" Bow said nervously, backing up closer to them. "I think it's a little late for that."

The jungle foliage rustled in the distance as several skiffs full of troops soared through the trees, following the trail Adora had cut earlier. They had drawn their stun batons, energy blasts readied and charging, as they closed in on the team.

"Oh, that's bad," Swift Wind muttered. "Time to run?"

"Follow me!" Cadius declared as he ducked behind a tree and began sprinting towards the east.

"This isn't stealthy," Bow warned as they ran after him. "They're going to catch up with us!"

His sentence was punctuated by an energy bolt that impacted against a tree next to his head.

"Down there!" Cadius shouted, pointing at a creek that had cut a dozen feet into the jungle soil. Cadius threw himself down into the water, followed shortly by Adora, Swift Wind, and Glimmer, who teleported down with Bow.

"What now?" she asked. "They're right behind us!"

Cadius pressed his back to the creek bed and motioned for them to do the same. "Vindicator control, this is Dragoon 43 urgently requesting steel rain at grid WS-223; over!"

Adora stared at him. "Over what?"

Several sharp cracks of thunder pealed immediately after the question, followed by the roar of skiff engines bearing down on their position. Adora readied her sword and tensed up for the coming battle as the Horde drew closer.

Then the air exploded.

Wind ripped through the trees, splintering the wood and flinging rocks around like they were pebbles. Cadius put a hand on Glimmer and Bow, then dragged them down beneath the water as fragmented matter showered the creek bed. Pressure waves rippled through the air from all directions, squeezing the air from Adora's lungs and her into Swift Wind, who quickly covered her with his good wing.

As suddenly as it had come, the explosions stopped and all that was left was the ringing in their ears.

Bow and Glimmer emerged from the water gasping for breath, while Cadius frantically clawed at the front of his lizard helmet until he tore the snout covering his mouth away, releasing a torrent of water in the process.

There was a faint static crackling from the helmet right after. "Dragoon-43, urgent request fulfilled. Is the fire over?"

Cadius cupped his hands around his mouth. "Target is satisfied, fire out."

"Is everyone alright?" he asked, looking around at them. 

Swift Wind snorted. "I'm shaken, but not stirred. And I'd like to know what on Etheria that was."

"Cannonade." The answer was met by blank stares. Cadius tried again. "Indirect projectile bombardment." 

Bow raised his hand. "Ok, so I know what each of those words means individually, and I'm getting the feeling you mean you had someone catapult bombs at us?"

"Well, uh... basically. Yes."

Glimmer stomped her foot in the water. "Did they have to be so close? I thought I was going to die!"

Adora put a hand on Glimmer's shoulder. "Well, we survived and that's what matters. Come on, we should get going before the Horde comes back."

"Good thinking." Cadius shook his helmet's waterlogged mouthpiece a few times, then stowed it in a pouch on his belt. "Come on, it won't be far. Just a few miles."

* * *

Five shaken strike teams converged on the gate to Pyreclast Keep. Ashur looked over them from the ramparts, noting the battered state of their hover-skiffs and lack of prisoners. The taskforce commander jumped down from the deck of his craft and quickly knelt on the ground beneath Ashur's gaze.

"Commander Bourne, report!" Ashur growled.

"Force Captain, we were hot on the trail of She-Ra when a Dragoon bombardment separated us," Bourne said. He glanced up nervously. "By the time we could regroup, they had already slipped away. I will accept personal responsibility for this mission failure."

"Failure? Perhaps," Ashur growled. "But success or failure must be judged in the end, and this mission is far from over. Though you lost She-Ra, we know that she has been found by the Dragoons and must be headed to Highvale to meet with Princess Electra. If we attack now, we shall behead two enemies with one stroke."

"Sir? But how can we reach Highvale? They've beat back our every attempt so far."

"Yes, they have," Ashur chuckled. "But they have yet to see Lord Hordak's newest war machines. Have heart, commander; we'll test their mettle soon enough."


	2. Chapter 2

Although the creek water was cold and refreshing, the jungle air soon sapped the vitality it provided. Bow marked steadily behind Cadius as they made their way through the jungle, swearing through his light armor. It was an open question as to how Cadius managed in his helmet and scale mail. 

Bow took a closer look at the material. He had seen scales made from horn, leather, metal, and even dragonskin on rare occasions, but Cadius's armor seemed to be made of ceramic if anything. The same material looked to be part of his helmet as well, except for the eyes that were covered by dark lenses.

"So, hey there Cadius," Bow said, walking up to the Dragoon, "I'm something of an inventor, and I couldn't help but notice you've got an interesting getup. I've love to hear more about it."

Cadius frowned. "I don't know… I didn't make this, and I don't think I should be talking about it too much."

"Alright, alright." Bow held up his hands. "I just figured you could tell me something since we're going to be together for a bit. I mean, I'm not asking for secrets, I just want to get an idea of what you're using."

Cadius grew silent for a moment, then shrugged. "What do you want to know?"

"Are you really wearing ceramic?" Bow ran a hand over the scales. "How come it didn't break when Adora hit you?"

"I don't know anything about how it's made, but it's light and damn strong. Absorbs energy too."

"Right, that makes sense," Bow nodded. "The Horde mostly uses lasers and stun batons, so you need a non-conductive armor. I think their elites do something similar, where they insulate their uniforms with some kind of strange fabric."

"Yeah, it's a pretty hard combination to crack, but their helmets are a weak point. They're not sealed." Cadius fished out his helmet's mouthpiece and showed Bow the inside. "So we started issuing air filters to our soldiers and tossing gas on the battlefield."

"Oh cool! I've been known to use something like that myself." Bow drew out one of his trick arrows. "This one lets out a terrible stench. Makes most people sick their stomach."

"Interesting. Have you ever considered an irritant? We use pepper gas."

Bow's eyes lit up. "Sounds like something I should try out. I can get my hands on some great peppers in Bright Moon."

Cadius held up his metal tube. "I use specialty munitions in my smoothbore, but I get them from a factory."

"And you put them in the tube? Like fireworks?"

"Sort of?" Cadius pulled a handle on the front of the tube and a piece of the side slid back to reveal some of its inner mechanisms. "It feeds cartouches into the barrel from the rear. When I pull the trigger, a hammer hits shock sensitive powder in the cartouche and the explosion pushes the contents forward."

"So it's like a crossbow that fires rockets?"

"Sort of." Cadius fumbled through his pouches and produced a handful of colored cylinders. "I've got flares, scattershot, sabots, flechettes, and explosive cartouches with me." 

"Do you have anything like sticky slime or quick expanding foam?"

"No. What do you use them for?"

"Well, I've used them to trap people, gum up monsters, and soften landings. It's pretty great stuff!" Bow rustled around in his backpack and pulled out a notepad. "Here's how I make it."

Glimmer watched with amusement as the two began exchanging notes in earnest. "Boys and their toys."

Adora chuckled. "I think it's cute. Bow hasn't gotten a chance to geek out over technology since Entrapta left us." 

"Yeah, uh, speaking about that… look, I don't want us to get blindsided again. Do you think we'll be able to trust Electra?"

"We know she's at war with the Horde. That means we're on the same side." Adora drew her sword and raised it high. "We'll have an audience, offer her our assistance, and win her over with She-Ra. For the honor of Greyskull!"

Power radiated from her, filling the jungle with light and causing the wind to swirl around them. Cadius glanced back at them and opened his mouth to say something, then quickly closed it and dropped to one knee. He held up a hand motioning for them to stop. Everyone held still as a low rumbling sound started reverberating between the trees.

Swift Wind pressed his back to a tree nervously. "What's that? The Horde?"

"No." Bow nocked an arrow. "Doesn't sound like a hover-engine or drone."

"Not one of our vehicles either," Cadius whispered.

"Oh, I have a bad feeling about this," Adora muttered as she adopted a defensive stance.

The rumbling grew in intensity until the earth to their left burst open to reveal a massive brown chitinous creature with dozens of legs and a set of powerful pincers adorning its head. Poison dripped from its gaping maw as it fixed a two pairs of eyes on the humans beneath it.

Cadius groaned. "Oh. Multipede."

"Why does it always have to be giant insects?" Glimmer shouted as she fired a bolt of sparkling energy into its eyes. "Aren't these things supposed to hate the light?"

Adora wasted no time in adopting a high guard stance with her sword as she advanced on the Multipede. It quickly turned to face her and opened its mouth to swallow her whole, only to jerk its head back as Bow and Cadius opened fire at its head. She slipped close to it while it was distracted and thrust her sword between two of its segments. The tough material gave way and released a torrent of foul smelling ichor that burned like fire as it splashed on Adora's skin.

The Multipede curled around her and held her close to the wound, soaking her in more of the caustic fluid. Adora screamed as searing pain surged through her body and slashed wildly at the Multipede. Its mouth opened wide to swallow her before Swift Wind rammed himself into it from the side, smashing its head against a tree. Glimmer quickly appeared on top of Adora and grabbed her, to teleport them to a clearing several dozen yards away. 

"Get this poison off of me!" Adora panted as she propped herself up on her sword. "Do we have water?"

Glimmer turned back to the battle. "Bow! Water!"

Bow ducked behind a tree as the Multipede lashed out at the surroundings with its body. "Cadius, can you hold it off?"

"Yeah!" Cadius replied, furiously shoving cartouches into his smoothbore. "Get going, I'll cover you!"

He raised his weapon and fired a flare high up into the air before bringing the weapon to bear against the Multipede and firing an explosive round into its chest. The Multipede shrieked in pain as Cadius advanced on it, firing with each step.

Bow sprinted over to Adora and drew out his canteen. "Alright, just hold still," he said as he rinsed away the poison.

"Can you fight?" Glimmer asked nervously, as the weapon fire from Cadius stopped abruptly.

"I don't know, I still feel like my nerves are on fire." Adora said between clenched teeth. "Wait, where's Swift Wind?"

"I'm here," Swift Wind groaned as he limped into sight. "Got any more water? I think I'm overloading our empathic bond." He collapsed next to Adora, covered in poison. "I'm sorry. I failed you."

Adora reached over and stroked his mane. "No, you were great."

The Multipede roared again and sent tremors through the jungle as it slithered towards them. Bow and Glimmer stood in front of Adora and Swift Wind as the creature breached their clearing and reared up to strike.

A sharp crack filled the air as a hole burst in the Multipede's head, showering the trees behind it in blood and ichor. The ground heaved as its body collapsed to the side and crushed the vegetation beneath it. Bile continued to ooze from the hole in its skull, but the creature made no further movements.

Adora turned her head around to see where the sound had come from. Her first thought was that the Horde had found them again; there was a tank-like vehicle rumbling towards them through the jungle. But this one was dark blue compared to the Horde's usual green color scheme, and relied on wheels instead of hovering.

It stopped in front of them and a hatch opened in the rear. Four soldiers dressed in Dragoon armor poured out of it and swept them with their weapons.

"Identify yourselves!" Their leader growled. "And where's Cadius?"

Glimmer teleported in front of the leader and stared at him defiantly. "We're on a diplomatic mission from Bright Moon, and our friends are hurt. Cadius was trying to protect us, but he's somewhere back there." She pointed back to where the Multipede had come from.

The Dragoon leader kept her weapon trained on them as she issued orders. "Medico, attend to the injured. The rest of you get Cadius back to the Vanquisher."

"Yes Colonel!" They responded. 

The medico knelt down by Swift Wind and quickly swabbed away the poison with gauze bandages. "Just hold still, horsie. You'll be back to frolicking in the pasture in no time."

Swift Wind rolled his eyes. "Don't patronize me."

He fumbled with his gauze. "Ok, I did not see that coming." He put away the bandages and reached into his bag. "If you can understand me, then hold still. I'm going to give you something for the pain."

"Mmm. Sounds good. See if you can get me some tranquilizers as well," Swift Wind said. "I've had a lot of excitement for one day."

"Let's, uh, try a nerve inhibitor and go from there." He pricked Swift Wind with a needle. "Give it a few minutes and tell me how you feel."

He shifted his attention to Adora and pressed a needle against her arm. "Alright, I see you're already cleaned up. This'll take care of any lingering…" He trailed off as the needle bent from contact with Adora's skin. "...Alright, I'm going to give you some pills."

"It's fine. The pain's wearing off." Adora pushed herself up into a sitting position and took in a deep breath. " What about Cadius?"

"Radio says he's fine," the medico responded. "But he'll be out of commission for a while. Come on, let's get you aboard the transport. You can catch up on the ride back to Highvale."

"You mean we get to ride with you?" Bow's eyes sparkled as he dashed into the vehicle. "Wow! I've never been in a tank before!!"

The colonel put a hand on his shoulder and guided him into a seat, where he was quickly joined by Adora, Glimmer, and a recently revived Cadius. (Swift Wind took one look inside and refused, insisting that he would rather gallop alongside them.) The hatch closed behind them and the engine hummed to life as the transport sped off through the jungle.

In contrast to his friends, who made use of the opportunity to rest, Bow occupied himself by energetically examining the transport interior. The colonel watched him sternly at a distance, but delegated handling Bow to Lieutenant Cadius.

"So how long have you had these vehicles for?" Bow asked, running his hands along the interior. "I don't think I've ever seen anyone with this sort of technology. Is it Horde tech?"

"The Vanquisher?" Cadius shook his head. "Not exactly, no. We managed to reverse engineer some of their power systems, but we never could get the hover engines or lasers to work. So we slapped some wheels and pulse cannons on them and called it a day."

"And what's a 'pulse cannon'?"

"Um…" Cadius looked towards the colonel for approval. "Colonel?"

"I don't think we should be discussing sensitive technology with newcomers," she said cooly.

Bow held up his hands. "Hey, I was just curious. Didn't mean anything by it. I'm just such a fan of technology. It's one of the Horde's greatest advantages over us, so anything we could do to narrow the gap helps all of us. I'd be happy to share anything I know with you."

The colonel crossed her arms. "I'll clarify one point."

"Alright!" Bow cheered. "So, uh, back to the pulse cannon. It fires solid objects, but doesn't use explosive powder. What does it run on?" 

"It uses pulses of energy," She said gruffly. "That good enough for you?"

"Hm. It runs on energy, but isn't a laser. That's interesting." Bow scratched his chin. "Are you using magnetic propulsion?"

Angelos shrugged. "If you want to know any more, you're going to have to wait until the higher ups decide you're trustworthy. We prefer to keep our technology to ourselves; the last thing we need is the Horde copying our weapons."

"I suppose that would be bad; you do seem to have certain advantages. The indirect fire from your cannons is pretty hard for the Horde to match. But what about in a head on fight? I haven't found anything that can reliably get through their armor; the best I've been able to do is use trick arrows to short out their laser cannons, but that still leaves several tons of tank barreling around a battlefield."

Colonel Aneglos leaned forward to get a better look at Bow's weapons. "You must have some impressive arrows, we couldn't even scratch Horde metal with our's when the war started. Right now, we're about even with Horde tanks; they've got us beat in raw firepower and all terrain maneuverability, but we're quicker on the draw since our tanks come with turrets, and the pulse cannons can punch through their armor with slugs made with special alloys or explosives."

"Thankfully it rarely comes to a direct battle," Cadius added. "Their infantry is stuck with stun batons, maces, and shields, so they can only apply ranged pressure with their tanks and robots. If we keep our distance, we can pick them off and nip a fight in the bud."

Bow looked over at Adora. "Do you have an opinion on this?"

"I'm just thinking back to how the Horde always said they trained us for 'riot control' so they could bring order to Etheria." Adora paused and frowned. "In retrospect, I should have noticed something was wrong when I saw the war machines."

"You used to be part of the Horde?" Angelos looked at her with suspicion. "And here I was thinking you'd snagged that jacket as a war trophy." 

"Yeah," Adora sighed. "They raised me as a cadet my entire life. I managed to become a Force Captain before I realized the Horde wasn't who they said they were. I've been trying to stop them ever since."

"Good," Angelos nodded. "Then maybe you can help answer a question: What do they really want with Etheria?" 

"Hordak always said we needed to take the runestones to defeat the princesses, but he spends most of his time in his laboratory and lets his second in command actually run the Horde."

"So he needs runestones, but he's not a military commander himself. Interesting that he chose to invade Etheria, then." The colonel leaned back against the frame of the transport. "It feels like the Horde just happened upon Etheria, took a lot of initial territory with weapons they already had on hand, then found out brute force could only get you so far. It doesn't come across as premeditated — or if it was planned, not planned out well."

"So what, you think Hordak is some kind of alien explorer that accidentally stranded himself on Etheria?"

The colonel shrugged. "Would it be so strange? None of our ancestors were native to Etheria. Even the First Ones were colonizers."

Adora thought back to all she had learned about her predecessor Mara had destroyed the line of succession, wrecked the global technological infrastructure, and drove off the First Ones. "And the last She-Ra evidently banished them somewhere."

The transport fell silent as everyone contemplated the implications.

Bow was the first to speak. "Please tell me Horak isn't trying to bring any of his friends over to Etheria."

Adora laughed. "Oh wow, that would suck. But if he hasn't succeeded so far, we're probably safe."

"That was before Entrapta joined them, though."

"Oh. That, uh, that could change things. But she's only build bigger robots since then, so I wouldn't worry about it."

"I'm sorry," Angelos said. "Entrapta?"

"A fellow inventor who was going to make weapons for the Rebellion," Bow sighed. "I thought she was our friend, but she left to do research for the Horde."

"Wouldn't be the first to collaborate," Angelos noted sadly. "I'm thankful to say we don't have any traitors in Highvale. Speaking of which..." She opened the hatch to the turret and gestured for them to follow her up on top of the Vanquisher, where the rest of her squad was riding.

The jungle around them was rapidly giving way to elevated volcanic terrain as their transport drove up a well used dirt path. Off in the distance, they could see a smoking volcano looming over the eastern half of the island. Its top had long since blown off, leaving a wide crater in its place and a crack down on the southern side that nearly split the mountain in two. 

Embedded into the fissure were buildings and bridges connecting the two halves, running down its entire length. Smokestacks and pipes ran up into the crater, while the foot of the mountain was dominated by a fortified military camp bristling with artillery and armored vehicles.

"There it is: Highvale," Angelos announced proudly. "For a hundred years, it's been our greatest source of material wealth. There's enough resources and foundries in that mountain to keep the war going indefinitely."

"That's amazing," Adora said. "The rebellion could use your assistance; we're short on pretty much everything and have to rely on Elemental Princesses to fight off the Horde."

Angelos raised an eyebrow. "You must be in a truly desperate situation to resort to such measures. We'll have to get you an audience as soon as possible." She stuck her head into the cockpit and shouted. "Driver, get us to the Scar double-quick!"


	3. Chapter 3

The many kingdoms of Etheria had dealt with the Horde's invasion in their own way. Bright Moon remained the jewel of the Whispering Woods, even though many of its outlying villages had been destroyed and its people forced into refugee camps in their capital. Salineas was all but abandoned to the sea by its people, while Pulmeria did its best to remain the peaceful agrarian community it had always been even as the Horde poisoned their land. The floating city of Mystacor hid behind its magical wards, while the Kingdom of Snows trusted in their remote location and inhospitable terrain to keep them safe.

Highvale was different. Its streets bustled with activity; soldiers drilled relentlessly in formation, while workers moved raw minerals and manufactured goods around the city with a sense of purpose and determination. Everything ran with a precision Adora had seldom seen outside of the Horde, though the architecture was nowhere near as hostile.

Colonel Angelos swept her arm around and gestured to the city. "Here we are. Princess Electra is waiting for you at the High Command Headquarters. I'll escort you and Princess Glimmer to her personally."

Bow raised his hand. "And what about me?"

"You'll forgive me," Angelos said. "But my orders were to invite the Princesses only. You are authorized to tour the city at your leisure. Perhaps you could help the horse find a spot to rest?" She banged the flat of her hand on the turret. "Lieutenant! You'll be on medical leave for the rest of the day. I would like to assign you to help get the visitors accomodated."

"Affirmative, colonel!" The back door of the transport sprang open, and Cadius walked out mostly on his own power. He quickly leaned against Swift Wind and looked back at Bow. "Come along, Bow. You'll probably enjoy the city quite a bit."

"Alright, then I guess we'll part ways for now," Bow said. 

"Yeah, have fun with your princess business," Swift Wind snorted. "To think that, I, your noble steed, won't be allowed in…"

Adora wrapped her arms around him. "Sorry about all this. I'm sure Electra will feel more comfortable around us once we've explained ourselves."

"Well, we might as well get to it." Angelos motioned for them to follow her into an elevator. Once inside, she finally removed her helmet and face mask to reveal that she had sharp yellow eyes and a pair of furry brown ears that unfurled majestically from the top of her head.

Adora's jaw dropped. "You're a…" she paused, searching for the right word. Catra was the only one of her kind in the Horde, and the subject of her kind never came up. 

"What's the matter?" she smirked. "Cat got your tongue?"

"I was just… um… surprised."

"Heh, if you think that's something, you should see my boss." She held her hands far apart for emphasis. "Big scary lizard."

"Are you from around here?"

Angelos shrugged. "My parents told me fairy tales about how we came from this place called Third Earth a thousand or so years ago, but all I know is that I was born on the Growling Sea on their merchant ship." She studied Adora's reaction. "You were maybe expecting something a little different?"

"Just hoping for an answer to some other mystery in my life."

The elevator chimed to announce that they had arrived at their destination.

"Well, best of luck to you," Angelos said. "Come on, we've got business to attend."

Highvale Command was housed in a drab concrete structure set deep into the eastern wall of the Scar, halfway to the top. The exterior was overflowing with fortified emplacements and armored vehicles; Adora's Horde training kicked in automatically as she noted that they were all arrayed for tight overlapping fields of fire. 

Colonel Angelos brought them to a halt before a security checkpoints and saluted a guard dressed in a gaudy gold uniform. "Praetorian, I have Princess Glimmer of Bright Moon and She-Ra, Princess of Power are here for an audience with Princess Electra."

"Understood," the guard responded. "You are cleared for entry, but you'll have to check in your weapons here."

Adora stepped back. "Wait, hold on. I'm only She-Ra when I'm using the sword."

The guard's hand drifted to a machete on his waist. "Well we're not letting you bring a sword up to our Princess."

Glimmer quickly got between them. "Come on, Adora. This won't be any different than things were at Princess Prom. Just give them your sword and we can get to the audience."

Adora drew her sword and slowly handed it to the guard. "Take good care of it."

"I can personally assure you that they will." Angelos guided them into the building and through a spartan lobby until they came to a large meeting room with a dozen guards flanking the doors and a dozen more stationed inside. 

Colonal Angelos promptly held her fist to her chest in salute to a raven haired woman in her early thirties, whose sea green eyes shone with excitement as she walked forwards to greet them.

"Welcome, Princesses She-Ra and Glimmer," Electra said. "Please forgive my guards; they can be a bit overprotective, but I assure you they mean well. Captain Gaius, may I please trouble you to return She-Ra's sword to her?"

Colonal Angelos frowned and blocked the Captain of the Guard from leaving. "Are you sure that's wise, your highness? After what happened to your mother?"

Princess Electra drew herself up to her full height, just under 6 feet tall, and locked eyes with the colonel. "My mother died from a Horde assassin. I hardly think She-Ra, Princess of Power, would have anything to do with the Horde."

For a moment, it looked as if Colonel Angelos was going to say something, but she bit her tongue and stepped aside. "Of course not, your Highness. My apologies."

"Wow. Thanks for being so, uh, understanding." Adora gave a short curtsy. "Please, there's no need to call me She-Ra. That's as much my title as anything else. My name's Adora."

Electra chuckled. "Well, so much the better. You'll fit right in with all the other Princesses. Everyone has a name ending with 'a', I think. Traditional feminine signifier and all."

"I don't." Glimmer shrugged. "I've always been Glimmer." 

"True," Electra nodded. "We could always call you 'Glimma', though. Or maybe Refracta?"

"I'll keep that in mind if I ever need a regnal name." Glimmer said politely.

The door then opened to reveal the Captain of the Guard carrying the Sword of Protection with both hands. "I have returned, Princess Electra. She-Ra, I humbly return your sword to you."

"Thanks, Captain!" Adora took the sword delicately and carefully avoided making any gestures which could be misinterpreted as an act of aggression.

"Are you going to transform for us?" Electra asked eagerly. "We all grew up with the legends of She-Ra, but scarcely anyone believes them now."

Adora raised the sword high above her head with a flourish. "For the honor of Greyskull!"

The room was bathed in light, and when it was gone She-Ra stood in her place.

"I have come to free Etheria from the tyranny of the Horde." Adora planted the tip of the sword on the ground to emphasize her point. "And unite all the kingdoms together so that we may safeguard our peace and harmony. Will you join our alliance, Electra of Highvale?"

Electra clasped her hands together. "Although the kingdoms of Etheria have often fought amongst each other in the past, we must all stand as one if we wish to survive. I accept your offer and pledge myself to your rebellion, She-Ra."

She grabbed hold of both Adora and Glimmer. "Come, let me give you the tour! There is much you should know about Highvale."

They descended deep into the bunker until they reached a balcony overlooking a small cavern. The insides were lit up by a brilliant blue ball of energy, which constantly emitted cackling streams of lighting. The electricity formed mesmerising patterns as caressing the insides of the glass sphere that contained it. Around the base were wires and conduits to channel the energy, all under the supervision of a corps of technicians.

Adora gasped. "Is that the Sailor's Flame?"

Electra nodded. "The very same beacon which guided ships to Pyreclast now resides within the very heart of Highvale.."

"And it powers your city as well?" Glimmer asked.

"Indeed. My ancestors never knew the untapped power within, but we've made use of our time in hiding to learn its secrets."

Glimmer frowned, but kept her thoughts to herself and let Adora take over the conversation.

Adora's eyes swept over the chamber. "I've never seen this much technology outside of Horde hands, aside from Entrapta's castle."

Electra blinked in surprise. "Entrapta? Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time. Is she doing well?"

"She's working for Hordak now." Adora sighed. "In the end, she just wants to do research, and the Horde had more to offer. Did you know her?"

Electra looked at the table and sighed. "We met at a Princess Prom twenty years ago, I think. I spent all night playing with her because my parents were busy negotiating a peace treaty with Salineas. I can't believe she would turn evil! The kingdoms of Etheria have had their differences in the past and even warred against each other, but one would hope to see unity in the face of a common enemy."

Adora nodded. "It was a shock to us too. We lost a friend, and the Rebellion lost its source of weapons."

Electra clasped Adora's hand firmly in her own. "Although my kingdom is but a shadow of its former glory, I hope that I can provide both to you, She-Ra."

* * *

The city of Highvale was not only built into the Scar, it also ran deep below ground into the innumerable magma tubes that ran through the mountain. Rows and rows of buildings were set in the volcanic rock, lit by street lamps that glowed like the sun.

"How do you stand these stuffy conditions," Swift Wind snorted as Cadius led them through the tunnels. "This feels so… confining."

Cadius shrugged. "You're talking to the guy who ran off to fight in a jungle as soon as he turned sixteen. I hated this place."

"Really?" Bow raised an eyebrow. "It's cool, the air's pleasantly dry, and there's no sun beating down on you. Or Horde for that matter." 

"Is there food?" Swift Wind asked pointedly. "I'm starving."

"There's the White Beech down the street. Come on."

Cadius lead them to a squat two story concrete building with a bistro on the first floor and sat them at a table on the patio out front. A cheerful server soon arrived and placed two glasses of water on the table.

"Welcome back, Cadius!" she said. "You, uh, realize that animals aren't allowed on the premises, right?"

Swift Wind flicked his tail in annoyance. "Excuse me? I will have you know that I am a thinking, feeling being as deserving of service as anyone else!"

The waitress backed into a nearby table in shock. "I'm sorry, I thought you were an… uh, well…" 

"We'll have three of whatever the special is, Ceres." Cadius added in quickly before the situation could deteriorate. "And make one of them large enough for a horse. You can bill my unit for this one."

She scribbled the order down on her notepad. "Got it. I'll be right back."

"So, any questions while we wait?" Cadius asked.

Bow leaned back and placed his hand on one of the street lamps lighting the patio. "What can you tell me about these? I love how the lighting warms up the cavern."

Cadius scratched his chin. "Not much. Reverse engineered Horde tech, I think. They're supposed to emit a blend of very specific colors of light to match natural sunlight so people feel at home here and crops can grow properly. I never bought it, honestly; I know for a fact that you can't get sunburn from standing under one."

"And how do you power all this?"

"They dug wells deep into the island until they found hot spots and built steam turbines on them. This was decades ago, when this was still a mining outpost." 

"But that wouldn't be nearly enough for all the people living here after the Horde attacked. Not to mention running factories, lighting farms, and charging up power cells. There's got to be more to it."

Cadius hesitated. "That's a sensitive subject. Hell, I don't even know the full story. Maybe you should talk with Princess Electra? I'm sure you'll see her after she's done with the audience." 

"You guys sure do keep a lot of secrets,' Bow grumbled.

"You don't?"

"Well, it's not that we don't have secrets, but we're pretty welcoming on the whole. When we first met Adora, we thought she was a Horde spy and took her prisoner. Then we were forced to survive in the Whispering Woods together and we became friends. Well, at least I did; Glimmer took longer to warm up to her."

"Big risk. How did you know it was the right choice?"

"It helped that she could turn into She-Ra and saved us from a rampaging bug monster."

"That's definitely a sign." Cadius craned his neck around and looked over at the bistro. "Great, the food's here."

A savory aroma filled the air as Ceres returned with a serving cart.

"Here you go!" She said cheerfully. "Two bowls of mushroom noodles, and a pot full of vegetable stew. I also brought out a bucket of water if you get thirsty, Mr. Horse."

"Than you, that was very thoughtful." Swift Wind grabbed the bucket handle with his mouth and lifted it off the cat.

"Oh no, you don't have to… I was going to…"

Cadius grabbed the heavy pot of stew and motioned for Bow to take the other end. "Don't break your back over it, Ceres."

"Ok, well, uh, here are your noodles. I hope you enjoy!" She waved goodbye to both of them, then hesisted with her hand outstretched towards Swift Wind. He lowered his head slightly and pressed his forehead against her hand. She squealed in delight as she felt his fur, then bolted back to the bistro.

"Well, you're certainly getting popular around here," Cadius grinned.

"I can't help if people are drawn to my majestic nature." Swift Wind flapped his wings, then laid down on the ground to eat his stew. He swallowed a large mouthful, then promptly frowned. "Oh wow, there are a lot of mushrooms in here."

Bow picked out a thick slice of portabella with his fork and popped it in his mouth. "Do you not like mushrooms?"

"I never bothered figuring out which ones were poisonous or not. Seemed safer to just avoid the entire species and stick with apples."

Cadius reached over and ruffled Swift Wind's mane. "You don't have to worry about that at a restaurant. Mushrooms are really big here. They're easy to grow and keep bones strong."

Bow nodded. "Makes sense. If you can't get sunburn from the lamps, that means there's no ultraviolet light. And your body needs a bit of ultraviolet light to stay healthy."

"So I'm guessing you do a lot of science in your off time?"

"I don't mean to brag, but I'm one of the leading gadgeteers and inventors in Rebellion. I make all of my own equipment — armor, arrows, and even this tracker pad!" Bow pulled out the broken pad and laid it on the table. "Too bad I landed directly on it when we got shot down, otherwise I could use it to scan for First One's artifacts."

Cadius picked up the tracking pad and looked at its glitchy screen. "You know what? I think I know someone who can fix this. Let me put in some calls."


	4. Chapter 4

After their royal audience, Adora and Glimmer were taken across a bridge to the other side of the chasm from the command bunker and shown to a series of housing units reserved for visiting dignitaries and royal guests. They entered their suite to find Bow already sitting at a desk tinkering with his gadgets.

"Hey, you're back!" He said as he put away his tools. "How was the audience?"

"It was fantastic!" Adora squealed. "Electra joined up immediately! If we can get the Horde off of the island, they'll be able to retake the port and start shipping us as many weapons and vehicles as they can make."

Glimmer plopped down on a couch and stretched her arms. "It's nice to be on the side with a mechanized army for once."

"Sounds good to me." Bow sat down next to her. "So when do I get to meet Princess Electra?"

"She has declared that a banquet in our honor will be held tonight, after we've had a chance to bathe and wash our clothes. We'll even be able to bring our weapons!" Adora flourished her sword happily. 

"Well, don't use the master bathroom to freshen up; Swift Wind has been soaking in the bathtub for an hour." Bow grumbled. "We'll have to take turns with the shower."

The next few hours passed quietly, with everyone lounging around the living room in bathrobes as they took turns in the bath and waited for their clothes to come back from the laundry. 

Swift Wind lay next to the coffee table, resting his head on the surface. "So, did you find out why they're so uptight around here?"

"From what they say, a Horde assassin killed Electra's mother," Adora answered. "There was no security breach, nor signs of a struggle. Just a dead queen in her room with a dagger in her back."

Glimmer frowned. "You know, the Horde is many things, but I've never known them to use assassins."

Bow elbowed her in the side. "Coming from the girl who thought Adora was a Horde spy?"

"Hey, a spy isn't an assassin! The Horde spies on us all the time, but they've never tried to assassinate us. It's always tanks and killer robots with them."

Adora shrugged. "Shadow Weaver would do it."

"Maybe," Glimmer said. "But I thought she preferred to manipulate others? She tried isolating you and driving you crazy, didn't she?"

Bow and Adora exchanged glances.

"Do you think they didn't do it?" Adora asked.

Glimmer threw her hands up in the air. "I'm just saying it's a break from their usual approach."

Bow scratched his chin. "It could be that the local Force Commander here has a different strategy. After all, these are veteran soldiers. They're bound to be more experienced and have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves."

"Well there's a thought," Swift Wind grumbled. "Assassins on top of killer robots and laser tanks."

"Hm." Adora crossed her arms. "If that's the case, then maybe we should keep quiet about my history with the Horde."

"Uh, Adora?" Bow said. "If you want to keep that a secret, then maybe you shouldn't have given the cleaners your uniform? Your shirt has a giant Horde symbol on the back."

Adora smacked herself in forehead. "Oh for the love of Etheria!"

She threw open the door and dashed through it, only to bounce off of a set of scale armor. Adora rubbed her nose and found herself staring up at Colonel Angelos. The Colonel held up a hanger with Adora's clothing on it by her tail and shook her head. 

"You wear this on diplomatic missions?"

Adora quickly took her shirt and jacket back. "I… it's something I'm used to."

"Might want to have it dyed or altered by a mage, then." Angelos said dryly. "You're lucky I had Dragoons providing security. The cleaners would have gone to the Praetorians otherwise."

"Dragoons? Here?"

Colonel Angelos shrugged. "We got called in for support after the Queen was assassinated. Lets Praetorians focus more on guarding the Princess. Gives our frontline troops an excuse for light duty back home."

"I see. Well, uh, thanks for looking out for me." Adora stood up awkwardly and held her clothes against herself tightly. "Are you going to be joining us for the banquet?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Angelos gave them a curt nod, then shut the door.

"Well that was creepy," Swift Wind snorted. "I wonder what her deal is?"

* * *

  


The banquet was held in a royal villa on the outer edge of the Scar, overlooking the island's southern slopes. Tables laden with food were set on an expansive balcony hanging over the town below, while the guests lounged about on sofas and couches strewn around the lounge. 

Princess Electra was waiting for them at the door. "Welcome, Princesses She-Ra and Glimmer! And you as well, Bow of the Whispering Woods! Welcome to my abode. Please, come this way. Oh, there's so many people you just have to meet!"   
  


They were promptly swarmed by a dizzying variety of guests; guild leaders, bureaucrats, military officers, and scholars. Adora silently begged for help dealing with the crowd. Bow responded by getting the attention of one of the scholars, an elderly grey scaled lizard.

"Hello, Dr. Hydrus Demetrius was it?" he asked. "I couldn't help but notice you said you were a director of research division for the Royal Army?"

"Quite right." Demetrius lowered his head in a slow, dignified bow. "I had heard of your marvellous inventions from one of the soldiers; tell me, is it true you have a means of detecting First One's technology? I was hoping to learn more about it; how have you managed to overcome the signal decay problem?"

"The Etherian Maker's community found a solution to that! The key is a signal booster made from a specially crafted thaumaturgic crystal core that generates a burst of electricity when it comes into contact with magical flux."

Demetrius stroked his chin. "But wouldn't the electricity have less energy than the original magical signal due to inefficiencies in the conversion process?"

"That's right," Bow nodded. "But we can multiply the electrical signal by channeling it through a charged alloy that loses its electrons easily. The end result is an electron cascade which is only really limited by the secondary emitter."

"Marvellous!" Demetrius clasped his hands together. "Can you show me this device?"

"I would, but.." Bow pulled out his tracking pad. "It's busted. I need to find an electronics shop to diagnose it."

"I don't mean to brag, but I maintain a small hobbyist's workbench at my apartment a few levels down. Would you like to make use of it?"

"I would! Please lead the way!"

Dr. Demetrius lived in a modest three room apartment below the royal villa. It had originally been a two bedroom apartment, but the larger bedroom had been extensively retrofitted to serve as an amateur laboratory, complete with a workstation for tinkering with electronics. 

"Oh wow, this is great!" Bow picked up a soldering iron and examined it closely. "Tin solder too! Perfect!"

He quickly unscrewed the back of his tracking pad, revealing several wires that had been knocked loose from the impact. Bow quickly soldered them back into place and flipped the device over.

"Ok, we've got a signal!" He studied the display closely. "It's weak, but it looks like four distinct signatures."

"Curious." Demetrius said. "There is no First One's technology on this island that we've ever found."

"It's a large island though." Bow studied the pad closely. "There could be anything hidden in the more remote areas. Back in the Whispering Woods, there's at least two First One's ruins."

"Would you like to try and triangulate those signals?" Demetrius asked. "I can get us to one of the better monitoring arrays; it may afford us better resolution."

Bow nodded. "Then let's plug it in!"

* * *

  
Princess Electra saw them leave and swooped in to disperse the rest of the guests.

"Please, let us not overwhelm our guest!" She said. "I am sure that Princess She-Ra will have time for all of us later on. For now, let us enjoy our new alliance and look forward to the future."

She took Adora and Glimmer by the arm and led them to a buffet table on the balcony. "Well, I'm glad the official introductions are out of the way! I hate how all this pomp and circumstance is necessary; I imagine going out there and having adventures is rather more exciting?"

Glimmer nodded. "It can be. It hasn't been easy, but it's been worthwhile."

Electra balled her fists. "They've given me training, you know, so I could fight and defend myself if the Horde comes after me like they did to my mother, but I'd rather be out there doing what you're doing; fighting the Horde and freeing people. Many of us seem to have grown comfortable here in exile."

Adora shot her a quizzical look. "Do you think some people like this?"

"As a kingdom, we are diminished after the Horde seized most of the islands and overseas colonies we once ruled over. Over the course of the war, we have lost my father, most of our nobles, and half of our military, and all we could do was stop them from completely taking over our home island. But in the aftermath the position of certain figures in the kingdom has been greatly enhanced by the occupation." She glanced into the room at Colonel Angelos, who stood in a corner chatting with various military officials. 

The implication caused Adora and Glimmer to exchange uneasy glances with each other. 

"There have been a lot of Dragoons patrolling the streets." Adora frowned. "After the assassination, right?"

Electra bit her lip. "Come, let's retire to my private chambers. This is no place for such talk."

She slipped to the far side of the balcony and into a lush bedroom fit for a queen. She sat herself on a large canopy bed and motioned for them to join her. Electra closed the curtains around them and drew her knees up to her chest. 

"I… I don't have anyone here I can trust," she whispered. "But you two… She-Ra, Glimmer, I hope I can trust my fellow Princesses?"

They both nodded tensely.

"The night my mother Clytemnestra died… in this villa… in this room…" Electra's voice trembled. She took in several deep breaths and wiped tears from her eyes. "I was the last person to see her alive. And the next thing I knew, I was being woken up the Praetorians, and my mother was lying dead on the floor with a dagger in her back. There were no signs of a struggle, or even forced entry. A Horde assassin would have had to be uncommonly skilled to have gained entry so subtly, but the task would have been far easier for one of us…"

"You don't think… no! They wouldn't!" Adora looked to Glimmer. "Would they?"

"There have been coups in the past." Glimmer said slowly. "It's not unheard of for factions within a kingdom to arrange for a more suitable ruler. The military, palace guards, heirs, rival claimants to the throne… people will do anything for power."

"As long as Isla Fulgeo is at war, the Dragoons will have substantial political power," Electra said.

"And there's enough resources here to continue the war indefinitely." Adora echoed Colonel Angelos's words.

"Exactly." Electra bit her lip again. "As part of this alliance, I hope you can help me restore faith to the crown so that I can guide my people once again, as things should be."

Adora leaned over to hug Electra. "Of course. We're all in this together."


	5. Chapter 5

Colonel Angelos scanned the party with hawk-like vigilance. The guests were deep into conversation and many were more than a little drunk, but the princesses were conspicuously absent. She went over her mental map of the villa; if they were not in the lounge or balcony, they were likely in one of the private chambers.

She ducked behind a pair of Praetorians as she made her way down the hall to the bedrooms, checking them in order. The two guest bedrooms were empty, as was Electra's old room, but she could hear a whispered conversation from the master bedroom. Her ears twitched as she leaned in closer to the door 

"Colonel!" Her earpiece blared. "This is Command with a priority dispatch from Signal Interpretation, please acknowledge."

Angelos made a sharp turn away from the door and continued down the hallway to the bathrooms. "Acknowledged."

"We have multiple First One's technology signatures inbound, requesting your presence in the sigil chamber."

"Understood, on my way," she said curtly, abandoning the Princesses and cutting directly through the party on her way out. 

The sigil chamber was a large room built in the heart of the command bunker, with no windows and the walls covered by shifting patterns of runes. As she stepped in, she noticed that the runes were currently indicating the presence of four energy signatures moving towards Highvale from the ocean.

General Draco Servius, the Minister of War and commander of the kingdom's military forces, was studying the map closely. He was accompanied by his general staff along with Dr. Demetrius and Bow.

Angelos delivered a prompt salute. "Hail! What is the situation?"

Servius returned the salute and then shifted his focus back to the map. "We are clearly being attacked by the Horde. No doubt they intend to rob us of the opportunity to solidify our alliance."

The four dots slowly advanced towards one of the island's innumerable bays.

"Alright, what is the estimated enemy force disposition?" Angelos looked at Bow and Demetrius. "Any way of telling?"

Demetrius shook his head. "We can only track First One's technology signatures."

General Servius nodded. "It's good intel nonetheless. They've lost the element of surprise, so we can bombard their coordinates when they come closer." 

"It might not be that easy." Bow brought up pictures of one of Entrapta's new drones on his pad. It was considerably larger than the standard Horde battle drone, and much more angular. "I'd bet on those signatures being super-robots. Big, nasty, and self-repairing as long as the First One's tech powering them is intact. You might not be able to solve the problem with a cannonade. We've had to get close and personal to disable them."

"Then we should deploy a company of Dragoons to catch what the artillery doesn't destroy." Gervius turned to Angelos. "Colonel, I would like for you to oversee this operation. Work with Bow to find and destroy these robots."

Angelos nodded. "We'll begin deployment immediately. Bow, follow me. Farewell, General Servius and Doctor Demetrius."

Bow followed her out of the room and into an elevator down the hall. "Shouldn't we get Adora and Glimmer?"

Angelos sent them to the lowest floor. "Let's see how the situation plays out. Your friends are untrained and I'd rather not have them bumbling around the battlefield."

"Hey, they're plenty experienced!" Bow said. "Glimmer's one of the best commanders in the alliance, and Adora's… well, you know."

"And neither know how to coordinate with our troops. We don't want to see anyone wander into the field of fire of a heavy slugger, do we?"

"I, uh, guess not..."

The elevator chimed to announce that they arrived at their destination. The door opened to reveal Adora, Glimmer, and Electra waiting for them.

"What the..." Colonel Angelos looked between the three of them. "What are you three doing here?"

"We wanted to come along and help!" Adora said proudly. "If the Horde is coming for us, I say we give them a fight!"

"That is appreciated, but not needed." Angelos emphasized the 'not' firmly. "I would rather you stay here where it is safe."

Electra cleared her throat. "Colonel, I believe it would be beneficial for us to work with She-Ra. She has much to teach us in fighting the Horde. Her victories with the Rebellion are something that we would do well to emulate."

Colonel Angelos's eyes hardened. "Of course. I am sure that our soldiers will find She-Ra's expertise invaluable in fighting the Horde. Perhaps we could arrange for her to teach them later. If you will excuse me?"

"I think it would be better for She-Ra to help us defend ourselves, Colonel. As such, I would like for the three of us to come with you to meet the enemy."

"I appreciate the offer, but we will handle this ourselves."

Electra stood her ground. "It was not an offer. This decision falls under my purview as a matter of state. Will you accede to my request, or shall I find another to carry out my orders? As I recall, the Grenadiers would be quite willing to go to battle under royal command again."

Angelos simply glared at her. Adora quickly stepped between the two before the situation escalated. "Colonel. I assure you that we would be happy to simply observe the operation under your command. We just want to help where we can, when you decide is appropriate."

"Fine." Angelos jerked her head towards a Vanquisher that had its turret replaced with a communications array. "Follow me to the Virtuoso. I'll brief you on the way."

* * *

The Virtuoso's batteries hummed steadily as the vehicle sped off to the beach, while Bow and Colonel Angelos showed the princesses the Horde signatures on Bow's tracking pad. The four enemies were almost upon the shore now, though their actual physical presence was hidden by a thick night fog. 

Colonel Angelos pulled up a map of the area on a small table in front of them and began marking off locations with a pencil. "As the enemy has chosen to attack us while obscured by the weather, we have determined the best course of action would be to rain fire on their coordinates while fortifying the path from the beach with lancer and auto-slugger teams. The Vanquishers will remain on the bluffs with the Vindicators and provide cover for the Dragoons."

Electra frowned. "Shouldn't we be more aggressive and prevent the enemy from landing?" 

"If we can see their ships, it means their ships can see us. And I'd rather not expose us to laser fire. We have a defensive position and it would be best to make use of it. If they send anything up the beach, we'll be able to suppress it cleanly."

Electra seemed inclined to disagree, but Glimmer quickly spoke up before she could get a word in. "I think that's a good plan; it's always better to make the enemy come to you when you've prepared for it."

"Assuming we can put down the super-robots," Bow noted.

"We've got a few tricks up our sleeves," Angelos chuckled. "The boss authorized use of Q-metal pulse cannon munitions for this fight. Nasty stuff, but it goes through armor like a knife through hot butter."

She pulled out several headsets. "By the way, you'll want to keep a headset on so you can hear our communications. Don't take them off, even if you get in a fight."

Adora put on a pair and snapped her fingers next to each ear experimentally. "I don't know, I can't hear too well in these."

Angelos flipped a switch on the headset. "Good news: they relay, filter, and amplify sounds to get around that."

"Fancy!" Bow flipped his one and played with the settings. "Still seems unnecessary when we could just take them off, though." 

"Yeah, well war tends to get loud, no matter how many mufflers we have." Colonel Angelos opened a storage compartment to reveal several sets of body armor. "Would anyone like a set?"

Electra grabbed a chest piece. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

"Tempting," Bow said, "But I need more mobility."

"Same," Glimmer agreed.

Adora raised her sword. "She-Ra."

Angelos shrugged. "Suit yourself."

The vehicle came to a stop in front of the artillery as they finished preparing for battle. Adora could see four Vindicators through the viewing ports. They were built using the same frame as the transports, but with the addition of a much larger cannon and hydraulic bracers on the sides to steady themselves for firing.

"Vindicator control, this is Dragoon command," their headsets blared. "Requesting steel rain at grid EN-556, over."

"Request acknowledged," the other side responded. "Prepare for delivery."

The Vindicator turrets immediately adjusted their positions and let loose a rapid barrage of artillery shells that crackled like thunder. The shockwaves squeezed through Adora's body knocking the air from her lungs, and for a moment, she thought her heart had stopped as well. Adora grabbed onto the edge of the viewing port and forced herself to breathe.

"That was… intense." She said, as the sound of distant explosions filled the air.

Angelos grabbed her and guided her to a seat. "You get used to it."

"Uh, guys? I don't think we got them." Bow turned his tracker pad towards the others. The four red dots were moving at them faster than ever. "They're almost on us!"

"What?" Electra opened another window and looked out over the ocean. "There's nothing out there!"

Something rushed through the air over their heads and impacted on the ground between them and the artillery. They looked out the window to see a Horde robot righting itself in a small crater between them and the artillery. 

"Defend the Vindicators! Focus fire on the robots!" Colonel Angelos pushed Electra away from the viewing port and stuck a short slugthrower out of the vehicle and emptied the weapon at the robots. All she managed to accomplish was to annoy the robots and draw their attention. The nearest one trained its laser cannon on them and an angry red beam scraped along the walls of the vehicle; the vehicle armor glowing a particularly vibrant shade of orange as it melted away.

Glimmer immediately teleported out of the vehicle and positioned herself on top of the droid, with her staff raised high over her head. She brought it down hard on the laser cannon and sent crystal fragments flying through the air while Bow took out one of its legs with an explosive arrow.

Adora kicked open the door and charged with her sword held out in front of her. She jammed it into the metal and tore a gaping hole to expose the circuitry within. A red First One's crystal glistened in the bowels of the machine; she reached for it only to be knocked out of the way by a heavy metal object.

She rolled with the blow and got to her feet, only to see that three other robots had joined the fight. Adora raised her sword in a defensive stance as the closest robot lashed out at her with a leg. A quick parry turned into a deep cut as Adora tore through the limb and slashed open the robot's torso again. This time, electricity surged along the outer frame of the robot and traveled up her sword, knocking Adora to the ground. The robot loomed over her and stamped the sword into the ground with one leg while the other raised itself to strike.

One of the Vindicators swung its turret around and aimed its cannon squarely at the robot. The ground shook as it fired; the round punched clean through the robot and traveled over the bluffs, exploding brilliantly above the ocean.

Adora quickly grabbed onto the ragged exit hole and hauled herself into the machine to rip out the control chip. The robot rumbled in protest, then sank to the ground in defeat, which allowed her to jump out of it and recover her sword.

Her headset cackled. "Get down! Lancer fire!"

A rocket swooshed past her head and singed her hair. Adora instinctively crouched down and let her eyes follow the smoking trail to see it knock a droid off its feet. She kept her head down as the thunderous roar of weapons fire filled the air and pounced on the fallen robot.

It quickly raised a leg and struck Adora in the stomach; the blow knocked her back into a Vanquisher and left a sizeable dent in its turret. She looked up to see its laser cannon charged and ready to fire.

Then she was out by the cliffs in a burst of pink energy with Glimmer panting beside her. Adora glanced back to see the robot destroy the Vanquisher with its laser cannon. Bow flanked it from the side and shot a sonic arrow into the robot, which shattered the internals and brought it down.

The other two robots, meanwhile, finally collapsed from the sheer volume of fire that had been poured into them. The battlefield grew quiet for a moment before Adora picked up the familiar hum of Horde hover-engines. 

"We've got incoming!" she shouted. "Skiffs and tanks!"

The soldiers below the buffs started firing before she finished speaking. Laser fire filled the air as the Horde began fighting its way up to the cliffs. The Dragoons countered by throwing smoke grenades to obscure the battlefield, while their weapons teams swept the beach with fire. Several Vindicators must have survived the initial assault as well, for Adora could hear the steady crack of pulse cannons echoed monotonously as they circled the battlefield and sent round after round into the Horde tanks, which struggled to turn about and bring their fixed cannons to bear. One tank take a round directly through the turret, which exploded in a fiery cloud as the projectile fragmented and left an incandescent trail of powdered metal in its flight path that set vehicle insides on fire.

Adora grabbed hold of Glimmer. "Do you think you can get us down to their leader?"

Glimmer surveyed the battle for a moment. "I can see him right in the center of their formation."

Adora took a deep breath and steadied her grip on the sword as her surroundings were replaced by the din of battle. Glimmer teleported away and left Adora right behind a wall of Horde soldiers armed with shields and maces who were pressing forward against the emplaced weapons teams and in front of a massive lizard warrior.

"Force Commander Ashur!" Adora leveled her sword at him. "She-Ra, Princess of Power, challenges you to battle!"

"And I accept!" Ashur roared. "Bourne, take over my command!"

"You heard the Force Captain!" Bourne shouted at the soldiers. "Keep that shield wall up and press forward!"

The two warriors circled each other cautiously. Ashur moved first and thrust forward with his double-spear, which Adora parried aside. Ashur quickly shifted his grip and swung the other end of the spear at her. The edge slashed through Adora's hair and nicked her ear.

She pulled back and growled as blood ran down the left side of her face. The Horde was advancing past them; laser tanks and soldiers were advancing up to the cliffs and steadily dislodging the defenders. There was no time to lose; Adora had to settle this quickly.

Adora held her sword in front of her and dashed forward. She dodged Ashur's thrust and blocked the other spearhead, which gave her an opening to kick Ashur hard in the right knee. The joint gave way and Adora followed Ashur onto the ground so she could press her sword against his throat.

"Call off your troops!" She growled. 

His tail swept up in response and slapped her hard in the side. Ashur grabbed onto Adora's sword hand as she was knocked off of him and broke her grip on her sword. Adora slammed into the sand, returned to her normal human form, as Ashur took her sword in his off hand and leveled his spear at her throat.

"I would like to kindly return the offer," he said coldly. "It's not too late to come back into the fold, Adora."

"You leave her alone!" Electra thundered from above them.

They looked up to see her glowing a furious shade of electric-blue. One of the tanks promptly turned around and blasted the rock under her. The cliff crumbled and forced Electra to jump through the air down to the battle. Her aura cackled as she landed on top of the tank like a lightning bolt. Electricity surged through the tank, blowing out circuits and starting fires as it coursed through the vehicle. She stood up and raised her hands to the heavens, unleashing a burst of electricity that sent dozens of soldiers flying through the air. 

Electra focused her attention on Ashur and shot a lightning bolt at him. Ashur reflexively raised the Sword of Protection to defend himself and the electricity danced along the blade before being absorbed into the runestone.

Ashur grabbed Adora and threw her into Electra as he leaped onto a nearby skiff. The engine screamed as he pushed it to its limits in an attempt to escape down the beach. Electra shot two blasts of lightning at his retreating form, which did nothing but scorch the ground behind the skiff.

"Shoot him!" she shouted into her headset. "Artillery fire down the beach! Now!"

"What? What coordinates?" Vindicator control responded. "Wait, who is this?"

"Get off the radio!" Colonel Angelos snapped over the airwaves. "Hold tight, I'm coming down to you."

The tank husk rocked as Angelos landed gracefully on all fours next to them. "What were you thinking? You can't jump headfirst into battle like that!"

Adora looked down awkwardly. "I, uh, just thought I could—"

"I wasn't talking to you." Angelos stared at Electra. "You were supposed to stay safe."

"Colonel, this is neither the time nor the place." Electra pointed to the skiff off in the distance. "We have to capture Ashur now! He has stolen the Sword of Protection!"

"We can't go; I've got too many wounded to look after and prisoners to secure."

Electra stamped her foot on the roof of the tank. "I did not see my father die so that the Horde could deprive Etheria of its best hope!! Roll up the wounded, get rid of the prisoners, and go catch him!"

Angelos's jaw dropped. "Have you gone mad?"

Electricity started cackling around Electra. "I am your liege, and you will do what I say! Do not forget it was we who gave you refuge in your hour of need, Colonel! It is your duty to serve me and execute my will!"

"No." Angelos drew herself up to her full height. "No I will not. You are not my commanding officer, you are my head of state. I do not take orders from you, especially not stupid ones."

Adora quickly stepped between the two. "Hey! Come on, we can't start fighting ourselves. Look, the Horde may have the sword but they can't do anything with it. Let's take our time to make a plan, ok?"

The electricity dissipated harmlessly into the air. "Fine," Electra grumbled, in a tone that suggested the issue was far from resolved.

"I will tell our units to be on the lookout for Ashur in the meantime," Angelos put a hand on Adora's shoulder. "You take a breather. Come up to see us at your leisure."

Adora nodded. "Of course." 

"Good." Angelos turned to Electra. "Princess, if you will come with me we can review our current deployments and set up a dragnet for Ashur."

Electra walked off to the command vehicle in a huff, not even deigning to respond. Angelos shrugged and followed her, leaving Adora alone on top of the tank. After surveying the battlefield for a moment, Adora jumped down and walked over to the nearest cluster of prisoners.

"Excuse me, where's your second in command?" she asked. 

"Get lost, traitor." A Horde soldier snarled while making an extraordinary rude gesture. 

A clump of sand hit him from behind. "Shut up, George." 

George stepped aside to reveal that Commander Bourne was lying down on the sand, bleeding from several bullet wounds that had gone straight through her body armor. The same medico Adora had met in the jungle was kneeling by her and doing his best to treat the wounds.

"How bad is it?" Adora asked instinctively.

The medico dabbed sweat off of his brow. "Not too bad. Armor piercing slugs don't fragment, thank heavens. All I have to do is make sure there's no bleed out or infections and call in a Valerian to treat her properly. She'll be right as rain after a month or two of hospital stay."

"Good to know." Bourne leaned her head back and clenched her teeth as the medico applied disinfectant to her wounds. "Now what do you want, Adora?"

Adora's eyes glanced at her name tag. "Commander Bourne, right? Look, you know what the Horde is doing here isn't right."

Bourne shrugged. "No worse than many of those who came before it."

"What are you talking about? The Horde—"

"We're just taking this kingdom the way they took it in turn." She narrowed her eyes. "I heard about the Princess Ball. Do you think it's neutral ground because everyone used to get along with each other?" 

"That… that may be true," Adora said. "But the future doesn't have to be the same as the past."

"Civilization is over a thousand years old. What makes you think the next thousand will be any different?"

Adora knelt down beside and put a hand on Bourne's shoulder. "You have me now."

"You?" She looked away. "You're just a cadet without the sword."

"Then help me find it."

"Sorry, kid," she shrugged. "You're on your own."

Adora withdrew her hand in disappointment. "Alright then, I'll get it back myself."

She left the Horde prisoners behind and made her way up to the top of the cliffs. Colonel Angelos had commandeered an intact Vanquisher to serve as a replacement vehicle, while Bow and Glimmer sifted through the wreckage on the battlefield.

Adora walked up to them and gave each of her friends a tight hug. "Are you two ok?"

"It wasn't anything we couldn't handle," Bow chuckled. "Of course, it'd help if I could shoot through their armor. I need to put some serious work into redesigning my arrows if Entrapta keeps churning these things out."

"Thankfully, we could still temporarily blind them by sticking them in the cameras," Glimmer said. "The Dragoons have a lot of advantages, but melee combat isn't one of them."

Adora glanced over at Angelos and Electra. "Speaking of, how are those two getting along? Things got pretty tense down there."

"I heard." Glimmer shook her head. "Electra's starting to worry me. How were we supposed to 'get rid' of the prisoners, exactly?"

Adora motioned for Glimmer to quiet down. "I think she's too, uh, inexperienced to realize what that sounded like. But that's ok, that's what the Rebellion is for. We can teach her how to do things our way."

"If she listens," Glimmer said.

"We'll see." Adora walked over to the Vanquisher and knocked on the side. "Colonel. Princess Electra. What have you decided?"

Angelos made room for Adora next to the table inside. "We're going to have all available forces press an attack on Horde positions. While they're distracted, we can slip into Pyreclast through the harbor and take the sword from Ashur."

"You think we can break through their fleet?"

"With any luck we'll bypass most of their forces. We've called in a submersible to carry you into Pyreclast."

Adora frowned. "So what, it'll be us three against the garrison?"

"Four," Electra said. "I am coming with you."

Angelos opened her mouth, but Eletra raised her hand. "General Servius has acknowledged my overall command of our military and agrees that I have the authority to command as I see fit. I am going." Electra put a hand on Adora's shoulder. "Come. Let's go down to the beach; the submersible is on its way."

"Very well, Princess. I wish you the best." Angelos turned to Adora and extended a hand. "And you as well, She-Ra. May you and your companions stay safe. I hope to meet you again one day, under better circumstances."

"Thank you." Adora took her hand and shook it firmly.

"We'll be parting ways soon; is there anything I can do for you before you leave?"

"Tell Swift Wind to join us at Pyrelcast if he can. We'll need everyone for this."

Angelos nodded. "I'll see to it."


	6. Chapter 6

The silhouette of the submersible broke through the night fog. It was oddly oblong, with only a control tower sticking out of the water. It hovered a few hundred feet from the shoreline as the sailors detached a dinghy to ferry their passengers to the ship.

They climbed up the control tower, then descended down into the bowels of the ship. It was a cramped metal coffin, with scarcely enough room to breathe. Adora was relieved to enter the command deck, which was filled with sailors but was at least offered them some breathing space.

The captain, Rex Alexander Thorne, and his crew saluted them as they entered the bridge.

"Hail, Princesses," he said in a rich, cultured accent. "It is an honor and a pleasure to have you onboard this fine vessel. Please make yourselves comfortable. It won't take more than an hour or so for us to make our way into Pyreclast harbor."

Adora smacked her fist against the palm of her hand. "Good, that leaves us plenty of time to plan. We're infiltrating a Horde stronghold and won't have room for error."

"Certainly," Captain Thorne bowed. "Come to the cartography table."

"With any luck, Ashur will hop on a ship and we'll sink him halfway out at sea so we can recover the sword at our leisure. But he will be wary of sea travel after our last attempt, so he will likely order his ships to do a thorough sweep of the harbor first and keep a tight escort while they travel. Our best approach may be to intercept him before he gets onboard, though this presents challenges of its own."

He and laid a map of Pyreclast over the sea charts on the table. 

"We've been observing the Horde defenses for months. Their lasers have excellent fields of fire, but they're hamstrung by the fact that the turrets must be manually aimed." He shook his head. "They can mass produce lasers, but can't put a motor in the turret. It's amazing, really."

"So fast moving targets fighting in close quarters will have an advantage?" Electra asked.

Bow nodded. "That's been our experience as well. Those lasers are really only good against vehicles or buildings."

"They're also vulnerable to damage, and even water," Glimmer added. "Can't say we've got a way of soaking them, though."

Electra traced a pattern around the laser cannons on the map. "Interesting… so they're not robust. And they're direct fire weapons, so obstructions will be to our advantage."

She pointed to the royal castle high above the bay. "I'd wager that Ashur will hide in the castle until his departure is secure. It's the most fortified location in Pyreclast and has a secret passage to the docks. We can sneak into the bay, up the secret passage, and ambush him inside the castle. Then we just slip back out and leave as quietly as we came in."

Adora smiled. "That sounds like a solid plan. And you'll certainly be familiar enough with the palace to guide us through it." 

Bow raised his hand. "Wouldn't surfacing in the middle of the harbor give our location away?"

Captain Thorne chuckled. "I imagine it would, if we ever did something that bold, but we have an alternative. The forward missile tubes can easily fit a man; what you can do is squeeze yourself into one and we'll open the tubes when we're in position. After your mission's done you can find your way back and we'll let you in."

"That's incredible!" Bow said. "This is an amazing vessel. Did Highvale build it as well?"

Captain Thorne beamed with pride. ""Every piece of it."

"Fascinating, considering you have no ports that are safe from the Horde. Unless the caves run deep under the island?"

"That is not a subject we would care to discuss," Electra snapped. "Let us focus on the task at hand. Are there any problems with this plan?"

"Yeah, Ashur could kick our butts," Glimmer grumbled."The last time we took a fortified position, I had a lot more magic and we had a lot more princesses. I don't know if we can punch hard enough."

"You leave that to me." Electra said haughtily. "I've been wanting to pay the Horde back for a long time. My father's death deserves vengeance."

Behind her, Glimmer shot Adora a look that clearly said 'This is the sort of thing I'm worried about' to anyone that might have been looking. 

"We will ensure that justice is carried out," Adora said, quickly steering the conversation away from talk of revenge. "Let's run through a few combat scenarios and see if we can't refine our approach a little before we arrive."

* * *

The waters around Pyreclast Bay were dark and cold, and bottom was filled with mud. Gentle clouds stirred as the submersible clung to the harbor floor and edged its way past the Horde Destroyers. Everyone onboard waited at their stations with baited breath, not daring to make a sound lest they be noticed. For half an hour, the only thing that could be heard was the rush of ocean water and the hum of electricity.

The inside of the bay was less heavily patrolled, and dominated by the brave merchants who dared visit Horde territory to do their business. The submersible parked underneath a wide dock and opened its missile tubes.

Adora cut through the icy water with perfect form, honed by years of Horde training. Bow kept pace, while Electra struggled behind them. Glimmer chose to teleport ahead and was waiting for them as they came out of the water.

Electra silently motioned for them to follow her as she crept along the edge of the water and into a drainage pipe. The lead walls muffled their noise as they followed it up into the city. After a hundred feet, Electra paused and knocked along the walls until they sounded hollow.

"This is the spot," she whispered. "Glimmer, you'll have to teleport us in. We just need to be four feet dead ahead."

"Alright, four people, four feet. I can do this." Glimmer took in a deep breath. "Pretty sure I can do this."

She exhaled, and they appeared on the other side in a burst of energy. A heavy vault door lay directly behind them, which Bow quickly opened to serve as their escape route. 

"Alright," Adora said. "Let's do this. In and out, fifteen minutes."

They followed the passage into the castle's royal bedchambers and then separated. Glimmer and Bow secured a bottleneck to the bedchambers, while Electra and Adora crept past guards and patrols until they were on top of the castle, bathed in bright moonlight. Down beneath a glass skylight, Ashur sat on the throne issuing last minute orders before his departure.

Adora pressed herself down to the roof tiles and signalled Electra to start a diversion. Electra made her way to the other side of the building and raised her hands to the sky. A high pitched whine filled the air as she summoned a cackling electric field again. The hairs on Adora's skin stood up on end as Electra began to float upwards.

Alarms wailed across the castle and soldiers poured out to man firing positions as Electra rose steadily above them. Several laser cannons bore down on her as a Horde officer shouted at Electra to stand down and surrender. When she offered no response, he ordered the cannons to fire. 

The clouds above rumbled angrily as a massive column of lightning came down like an angel cast out of heaven. It struck Electra and exploded in the air. All the windows in the castle shattered as the shockwave rolled over them, while the electronics shorted out one by one. The laser cannons caught fire, while the Horde soldiers began to frantically ditch their sparking stun batons. Electra remained hovering over the castle courtyard like some vengeful lord of thunder intent on smiting the daylights out of her enemies.

Ashur lost no time in rushing to find Electra with his double spear, but kept Adora's sword slung securely on his back. Adora cursed and kept to the shadows as she waited for an opportunity to catch him off guard.

"Well well," he sneered. "The child returns. Your family has caused me no end of trouble, Electra. Do you intend for this to end here and now? The two of us locked in battle until one or the other leaves alive? Is this what your mother would have wanted?"

"You will hold your tongue or you will lose it!" Electra lashed out with a lightning bolt, but Ashur was faster and dodged behind a stone pillar as the attack went straight through the castle wall and sailed over the harbor.

"After all your father did to keep us away, after all your mother did to ensure your safety, you came here into my parlor all alone to take down the big bad Horde. Such a pity. Don't you think we could have worked something out? How powerful would Isla Fulgeo be as part of the Horde? You would have more islands and territories than you ever had. All we would ask for is your talent for war."

"You want to see war?" Electra shattered the pillar with a blast of electricity and forced Ashur to roll into the bare courtyard. "Then come drink your fill."

She fired again, but Ashur quickly took the Sword of Protection and planted it in front of him. The runestone absorbed the full force of the blast and channeled it into the ground, where it cracked the courtyard stones. The moment the electricity died down, Ashur leaped over the sword and ran his spear into Electra's stomach.

"No!"

Adora leaped off the roof and grabbed hold of the Sword of Power as she landed. The cracked stones shattered completely under her. A normal human's bones would have broken from the impact, but by then Adora was She-Ra, Princess of Power.

Ashur barely had time to raise his spear before Adora was on him, furiously swiping with her sword. She drove him away from Electra's body and smashed the ground hard enough to turn the stone ground into a makeshift barrier.

"Electra! Are you alright?"

Electra coughed and clung on to Adora tightly. "I'm fine, She-Ra. I think my armor caught it. Just help me up."

"Don't be too hasty taking her hand." Ashur stood atop the jagged stones with his spear raised. "It may stab you in the back one day."

"I know who my friends are." Adora stared at Ashur with a steely gaze. "Enemies too."

"The Horde is not your enemy, Adora. We are the best hope for civilization on this planet." Ashur pointed at Electra. "That is your enemy. Undisciplined. Self-destructive. Full of uncontrolled rage."

"Funny what happens to people when you kill their parents," Adora shot back.

"I'm afraid we can only take the credit for one of them," Ashur shrugged. "If you want to know who is responsible for the other, ask Electra."

Adora looked between the two of them in confusion. "What do you mean? Electra already told me. If it wasn't the Horde, it was a coup."

Electra stood with her fists balled so tightly that sparks were flying out of them. "She-Ra, stop talking and start fighting!"

Ashur laughed. "A coup, certainly. But who do you think was responsible?"

Glimmer's words ran through Adora's mind. 

_ "There have been coups in the past. It's not unheard of for factions within a kingdom to arrange for a more suitable ruler. The military, palace guards, heirs, rival claimants to the throne… people will do anything for power." _

"Electra, tell me he's lying." Adora said uneasily. There was no response but the cackling of electricity as Electra stared at Ashur with murderous intent.

"We're not monsters, Adora. We offered the Queen a secret peace deal, and she accepted. We would leave her remnant kingdom alone and ensure the safety of her daughter. In return, she would see to it that tensions were kept at a minimum through defensive posturing and that their weapon development would be turned over to the Horde in due time. A pity that our arrangement was discovered and terminated so abruptly."

"Do not speak to me all high and mighty," Electra spat. "You turned my mother into a traitor to her people. Her blood is on your hands, not mine. I merely fulfilled my duty to my people and honored the sacrifice of my father."

"Well then, I suppose dying like him will be the ultimate honor for you."

Ashur pounced on them and swung his spear into Electra's side. Her aura flared as she was struck, but the electricity was absorbed harmlessly into the spear's wooden shaft. The blow knocked her into Adora and sent both of them tumbling to the ground. Ashur grabbed onto Adora before she could recover and threw her through the hole in the castle wall Electra had made earlier.

"She-Ra! No!" Electra shouted as Adora disappeared from view and into the harbor.

Ashur readied his spear. "So much for your savior. Will you fight and die as well, or will you come to you senses and end this ridiculous war?"

She responded by punching him with a fist full of electricity. Ashur roared in pain and swept her off her feet with his tail before raising his spear up in the air. A shadow passed over them and Ashur paused to glance upwards to see Swift Wind circling over the courtyard with Adora seated safely on top of him. Electra took advantage of the distraction to reach out and shock Ashur from the ground, which gave Swift Wind an opening to swoop down and kick him away with both rear legs. Ashur sailed across the courtyard and through the heavy courtyard doors, which cracked and buried him in their rubble.

Electra stood on shaky legs as she summoned what little magical power she had left. "What do we do now?"

"We? We aren't doing anything," Adora snarled. "You're crazy and you've been manipulating me from the start. You're on your own. Keep fighting or run away; it's no longer any concern of mine."

Swift Wind kicked off the ground and flew to the royal tower, leaving Electra far behind in the castle courtyard. Electra looked around to see Horde soldiers slowly emerging from cover as She-Ra withdrew from the battlefield and ran for the escape tunnel. She arrived just in time to see Bow and Glimmer seated next to Adora on Swift Wind.

"Wait, She-Ra! You cannot leave!"

Adora leveled her sword at Electra's throat. "My name is Adora, and I'm running out of reasons to work with you."

Bow aimed his weapon at her as well. "Back off, Electra. We don't work with murderers in the Alliance."

"You think war is clean? You think I enjoyed what I did?" Electra's eyes flashed. "I did what I had to do. We are at war with the Horde, and we have no room for traitors or cowards. There are no exceptions."

She looked at Glimmer for support. "Princess Glimmer, you out of all of us should understand given how Bright Moon has suffered so!

"We've fought the Horde for years," Glimmer said. "We've lost villages, we've lost good people. But I've never killed a Horde soldier in battle, much less in cold blood. Not even the Princesses who serve the Horde. You're sick, Electra. If you want to fight your way, fine. But you're not getting help from the Alliance."

Electra's eyes hardened. "Fine then. We'll each walk our separate paths. But if they cross again in the future, I cannot guarantee we will be on the same side."

She brushed past them and descended the escape tunnel as Swift Wind leapt out of a window and soared over the ocean towards Bright Moon.

* * *

Bright Moon was quiet as Swift Wind landed in front of the Moonstone. Queen Angella stood waiting for them, with a trace of worry evident on her face despite her regal composure. She helped Glimmer off of Swift Wind and lead her to the Moonstone so that she could recharge.

"How did your mission go?" She asked. "Were you able to make contact with any survivors on the island?"

"We did," Adora sighed. "But the situation was… complicated. I do not believe they're a good fit for our Rebellion."

"Yeah," Bow nodded. "Electra was a psychopath." 

Queen Angella put a hand on Adora's shoulder. "That's a pity, but we will do what we can on our own. Please, don't take it to heart. You should rest for now. We can talk more tomorrow."

"It just seems a shame that we did so much without anything to show for it," Adora said bitterly. "We need so much more help if we're going to beat the Horde!"

Swift Wind's ears perked up. "Oh, that reminds me! That Colonel wanted me to give you something."

He reached over and shook open his saddle bags. Dozens of differently colored metal darts rained out and rang sharply as they clattered onto the floor. One rolled right to Bow's feet and he picked it up cautiously.

"What are these?" he asked.

"She said you might get a kick out of them. They're apparently some sort of armor piercing projectiles. She couldn't tell me what they were made of, though."

Bow scratched the projectile with one of his arrows. "Whatever it is, it's denser and far harder than anything I've got."

Adora poked one with her sword. "Do you think you can figure out what they are?"

"Maybe! Give me a few days and we'll see!" Bow gathered the darts in his arms and raced off to find a workshop.

Queen Angella looked at his retreating form fondly. "Well, that was a pleasant surprise." 

"It's better than nothing," Adora admitted. "But I would have preferred a new member of the Rebellion."

"Don't ever feel bad for having standards, Adora." Queen Angela lifted Adora's chin up. "We must never lose sight of what we stand for; it does Etheria no good to rid ourselves of the Horde if it just enables the next in a long line of oppressors. Etherian history has had many tyrants in the past, and I have no desire to see the cycle continue. This is a struggle not only for the freedom of Etheria, but for a just future for its people."

Adora looked down from the toward saw the city of Bright Moon stretch out before her, full of refugees and citizens mingling peacefully in the streets. The Whispering Woods stretched out as far as the eye could see, full of mystery and beauty. This was the kind of life Etheria deserved, and what She-Ra stood for.

"That's right," Adora said. "And I'll be here to fight for it, ever and always."


End file.
